Mechanisms and Integrated Pathways for Tropical Low-Carbon Healthy Building Envelopes: From Multi-Scale Coupling to Intelligent Optimization

Tropical buildings face the coupled effects of four-high environmental factors, which accelerate thermal–humidity degradation, increase operational energy demands, and diminish building health attributes. This paper systematically integrates global research advancements to establish a theoretical framework for Tropical Low-Carbon Healthy Building Enclosures (TLHBEs) by linking materials, structures, and buildings across scales. It identifies three key scientific questions: (1) Establishing a multi-scale parametric design model that couples materials, structures, and architecture. (2) Elucidating experimental and simulated multi-scale equivalent relationships under the coupled effects of temperature, humidity, radiation, and salinity. (3) Design multi-objective optimization strategies balancing energy efficiency, comfort, indoor air quality, and carbon emissions. Based on this, a technical implementation pathway is proposed, integrating multi-scale unified parametric design, multi-physics testing and simulation, machine learning, and intelligent optimization technologies. This aims to achieve multi-scale parametric design, data–model fusion, interpretable decision-making, and robust performance prediction under tropical climatic conditions, providing a systematic technical solution to address the key scientific questions. This framework not only provides scientific guidance and engineering references for designing, retrofitting, and evaluating low-carbon healthy buildings in tropical regions but also aligns with China’s dual carbon goals and healthy building development strategies.